National Constituent Assembly (Republic of China)

After the victory in Sino-Japanese War in 1945, the Chinese Government was urged by the public to convene the Assembly. KMT and CCP, which by then became a substantial anti-government force, along with China Democratic League (CDL), Young China Party, and independents,[lower-alpha 1] convened Political Consultative Conference on 10 January 1946 in Chongqing. The Conference, lasted until 31 January, adopted 12 resolutions including reforming government, amending draft constitution, and convening National Constituent Assembly. A committee on organising draft constitution was also formed.

The membership quota of the National Constituent Assembly was one of the rifts between Nationalists and the Communists. CCP and CDL demanded disqualifying the members elected in 1936, while KMT insisted the membership was still legitimate and rejected the idea of disqualification for respecting the integrity of the government and the law. Both sides eventually compromised on disqualifying the unelected members of the Assembly, i.e., appointed members in special elections and ex-officio members of KMT's Central Committee, and replacing them with party representatives.[4]

Resolution on National Assembly by Political Consultative Conference (translation)

1. The National Assembly to be convened on 5 May 1946.
2. The duties of the first session of the National Assembly shall be enacting the constitution.
3. The adoption of the constitution shall be agreed by three-fourths of attending members.
4. The membership of 1,200 delegates elected by Areas and Occupational Groups shall be unchanged.
5. Taiwan and Northeast shall be assigned with additional 150 delegates in total for Areas and Occupational Groups.
6. Political parties and dignitaries shall be assigned with additional 700 delegates; distribution of such shall be in accordance with the annexed terms.
7. The total number of delegates of the National Assembly shall be 2,050.
8. Authority for implementing constitutionalism as stipulated by the constitution shall, within six months upon promulgation of the constitution, hold elections and convene (the National Assembly) in accordance with the constitution.

Annex:

1. Representatives sent to the National Assembly by the political parties shall uphold the drafted constitution as amended in the Political Consultative Conference in the National Assembly.
2. Any advice on improving the constitution draft shall be decided after temporary consultation between the parties.
3. The distribution of additional delegates for political parties and dignitaries is as follows:
   1. Nationalist Party, 230 members
   2. Communist Party, 200 members
   3. Youth Party, 100 members
   4. Democratic League, 100 members
   5. Dignitaries, 100 members
4. The Nationalist Party and the Communist Party shall each yield 10 members to the Democratic League.

Despite the new constitution draft (Conference Draft; 政協憲草) and other important agreements, the relation between the KMT and CCP worsened sharply after KMT's Central Committee meeting in March 1946 due to ideological differences and lack of mutual trust. Conflicts and skirmishes in Northeast broke out a month later.

Negotiations between two sides in Chongqing and Nanjing were also near breakdown. Over the membership of reformed coalition government, communists insisted on assigning 14 members to CCP and CDL out of 40 to secure one-third veto power. KMT, in return, only agreed on assigning 13. The standoff prolonged for more than half a year without much progress.[1]

Delegates, led by Chiang, visited the mausoleum of Sun on 12 November 1946

Delegates paid tribute at National Revolutionary Army Memorial Cemetery, Nanjing on 15 November 1946

According to resolution of Political Consultative Conference, the National Constituent Assembly shall be convened on 5 May 1946, anniversary of Sun's inauguration as "Extraordinary Great President" (非常大總統). Nevertheless, it was forced to delay as CCP and CDL declined to submit list of delegates amid stalled negotiations with KMT on reforming the government. The diplomatic mission by George C. Marshall, United States Special Envoy to China, to broker peace between two sides also failed.[6][7]

With the aim of ending the party-rule as soon as possible, Kuomintang decided to convene, unilaterally, the National Assembly on 12 November, the birthday of Sun, claiming the Communists continued the armed rebellion. The decision was immediately opposed by CCP and CDL, then both decided to boycott the Assembly. Youth rested with the decision of participating, while CDSP split with CDL with the internally assigned quota of 40 delegates, hoping CDL would reverse their boycott. The Communists later described the decision of participating in the "puppet National Assembly" as the "touchstone" distinguishing whether the party is standing with the people.[8]

Chiang addressed the Assembly in opening ceremony

Attending delegate from Tibet area

On 11 October 1946, Chiang Kai-shek, chairman of the Nationalist Government, ordered the convention of the National Assembly, after strategic town Zhangjiakou was captured from the Communists. Originally planned on 12 November, the Assembly was further delayed for three days to await delegation list from Youth and CDSP.

The Assembly opened on 15 November, but then adjourned as CDSP had not submitted the list yet, which only did on 20 November. As the required quorum of 75% was met, the Assembly re-convened without CCP and CDL. In addition to 1936-elected members of mainland China, members from Taiwan joined the meeting as Japanese rule ended in 1945. The Assembly elected the Presidium to rotate the chairmanship, and chose Hung Lan-yu as Secretary-general, Chen Qitian and Lei Chen as vice secretary-general.[9]

The presidium was elected by a total of 1,446 delegates. Some resigned upon election, as indicated by strikethrough, and replaced by italicised supplementary members. Members of the presidium are as follows, with votes received bracketed.[10]

National flag of Republic of China

Party flag of Kuomintang

Upon entering the National Great Hall, opposition parties including CDSP and Youth requested replacing the party flag of Kuomintang with national flag, arguing the National Assembly is not party congress.[11] The authorities agreed and therefore took off the party flag.

The two parties then declined to take oath of office, claiming the Tridemism references in the oath were incompatible with the ideology of their parties, and insisted the importance of freedom of thought.[12]

Delegates of National Constituent Assembly

Meeting chamber of National Constituent Assembly

The debate on the constitution draft adopted the three readings procedures. Prior to the first reading, some delegates proposed drafting a new constitution by the Legislative Yuan, instead of following the agreed "Conference Draft". The Assembly later decided to deliberate with "Conference Draft" as the basis after opposition from the minor parties.

On 28 November, Chiang tabled the "Conference Draft" in the Assembly for consideration, starting the first reading. A number of nationalist delegates were resentful as they deemed the draft deviated from Sun's Five-power constitution model, therefore reverted the proposal to "May Fifth Draft" version within a week. Under CDSP's threat of quitting the Assembly, Chiang, also head of Kuomintang, convinced his party colleagues to respect the minor parties.[13] A week later, the draft was reverted back to the original version.[14] Most of the amendments were also rejected for breaching the resolution of Political Consultative Conference after the urge from leaders of KMT and CDSP. In total, 104 out of 151 amendments proposed in the first reading were voted down,[15] with 98% of the draft kept from the "Conference Draft".[16] Chiang reaffirmed the hope to establish a parliamentary system in the constitution to shun Communists from attacking the constitution as "fascism" for empowering the executive and presidency.[17]

Second reading began on 21 December immediately after first reading. The draft was gone through clause by clause with details heavily debated. Delegates disputed whether the capital shall be Nanjing or Beijing, eventually resolved with no specific reference in the constitution. It was also argued that Manchu shall enjoy autonomy equal to Mongols and Tibetan, but rejected on basis that Manchu and Han are under one family. Another issue over assigning one-fifth quota to woman in the National Assembly was settled by stipulating that "[the] number of delegates to be elected by women's organizations shall be prescribed by law".[18]

Third reading commenced on 24 December with only minor amendments on the draft. The Constitution of the Republic of China was formally adopted on the other day, along with the implementation timeframe. Both document were handed to Chiang by Wu Jingheng, chairman of the closing ceremony of the National Assembly. The Assembly, and the drafting of the constitution, were thus concluded.

According to the timeline, the constitution shall be promogulated on 1 January 1947 and come into effect on 25 December 1947.